Wedge Campers & Assorted Oddities

I myself was wanting a drifter or atlas, but by the time I would be done outfitting how I would want, it would be some $$$. At that point I would be be buying more of a full size camper for my girl and dog; then putting it on my RCSB Tundra.
The temptation was the price and the availability. We shall see how my experience goes

 

That’s awesome!

And I apologize for not mentioning that the issues with the GFC isn’t happening to everyone, thank God.

 

It is pretty tough choosing what type of wedge camper to go with. The GFC is a nice jack of all trades daily solution but some of the other options are much better campers if camping is the main goal.

 

Agreed. In the end I feel solid about the choices I have made thus far for my truck.The taco is a fun for sure.

I will be getting a drifter/Alucab/AT full-size for the RCSB Tundra. Like you mentioned there are better campers, but this works for my needs at the moment.

 

I will be posting up a nice light setup that using some National Luna Two way lights.
Will also post up the interior cabinets I am making.

 

Thankfully they also been willing to stand behind their product and continue to make improvements. As far as I know all of the issues you've mentioned have been addressed.

Not saying they're without excuse. They could have done more testing of their product or sell smaller batches of tents initially to identify the issues that have been found. But, considering there are now about 700 of these out I would say it's fairing pretty well for Go Fast owners.

 

What do you have going on in your setup that you find helpful or unique?

 

I do not have one yet. But, I do not plan to build any crazy setup for it. Some lights and maybe a fan, but that’s probably gonna be it.

 

I agree that based on observation and reputation, GFC has a lot of issues. From what I’ve seen, the Drifter is far superior in both design concept and execution, and the AT Summit seems good as well, though I’ve never seen one. All I meant was that these new ones are completely unproven, and the vendors don’t even seem ready to provide any detail. Of course, GFC wasn’t itself an innovator ... it’s just a variation on a pop top concept that’s been around for decades.

 

Yes, thankfully they've been able to address the majority of those issues. The tent being snapped every 8" or so hasn't been redesigned yet (to my understanding) so unfortunately that's still an issue. Also, I think the jury is still out on the new hinge fix. Not to mention that the first 100 campers or so are only getting their door hinges retrofitted if they break it and report it. It would be great if GFC would retroactively fix all of those early design hinges with their PIT team that's touring the country, but they're only fixing the broken ones. Same with the rusty tubes. I would think that these first 100 customers would get VIP treatment since they're the ones that basically started the company with GFC's Kickstarter-esque business plan.

Yea very true. The Harker website has hardly any details and the Super Pacific doesn't have any interior pictures. I would say it's asinine for them to think that people would put money down on something without having more details, pictures, and an extensive R&D process, but the short lead times on both will still win people over. With that said, I still can't wait to see this in the wild to get an up close look. I'm sure they'll have a few things here and there that I wish I had in my Drifter.

 

Definitely not here to argue. I didn’t know they had not changed the design for how the tent attaches to the shell. Time will tell on whether or not the hinge fix will last for those first ones built, but they were sending their PIT team to those that hadn’t broken yet that were early designs. They just prioritized the already broken ones first, then coronavirus happened. Sucks for those first 100 like you said that have compounding issues. It would be nice if they offered something to rectify it for those that aren’t exactly close to Montana.

 

They are replacing hinges that have not yet broken on the PIT tour. I am on the list and have not broken a hinge (build #96). Not trying to be argumentative but that statement was not true. They have communicated via their forum that they have reached out to the builds that are in question (first 150 or so) and are adding any that break as well (a low 200s recently I believe). I agree that the jury is still out on the hinge repair and in the long run I believe a redesign will be necessary but thats my personal opinion.

 

That’s awesome to hear. I stand corrected. Thanks for the info

 

GFC is far from proven as a reliable camper. Proven to sell, not proven to last yet.

A couple gfc owners recently reported hinge failures on builds that are supposedly well into the new design serial numbers where this was fixed. It isn’t looking good for gfc owners and hinges.

I am always interested to see the other wedge camper designs. One looked like a straight gfc knockoff.

Maybe gfc will still have a cult following despite all the problems. Flippac campers still have a cult following despite all their issues and no longer being in business.

 

Yeah, 2 of them being from the supposed new design is concerning. Hopefully it is isolated incidents but who knows who else may have had problems that don't post on forums. If it is truly 2 out of the ~600 "new design" ones then I'll take my chances for the price. Time will tell.

 

Hope you have no issues bud

 

Same. I'm hoping it also makes it easier to camp with a wife, kid, and dog over a regular RTT. As long as it does that, then I think I'll be happy.

 

Seriously? Man that is so disappointing.

 

Correct. Two people with builds after the “fix” reported failures on the gfc board. That was how it started with the first builds too. Only way to know if the new reports are outliers or a trend is time. I personally have zero confidence.

I’ve been rocking two replacement hinges since October waiting for a “permanent” fix from the repair tour as it is ~35 hours driving round trip to Bozeman for me.

A simple fix with metal hinges was posted by others. I’ll probably go this route.

The first reported failure online from a user was over one year ago and this is apparently still an issue.

 

Another data point. I have build #88ish. After a year and a half I didn't have any issues with hinges but my rear tube was rusted shut. They made it right within a week by upgrading both my front and rear tubes and did a complete upgrade on my hinges even though they didn't have any issues. I'm about another 6 or 7 months after the upgrade, I use nearly all my hinges multiple times everyday, and have lived out of it for almost two month during this time.

With that being said, I do think the hinges need to be redesigned. The community on their forum has also gone to shit IMO. Predominately people trying to make a buck off if build spots, stupid questions repeatedly asked because people don't use the search ability, and a bunch of back seat engineers. Luckily there are still a few good ones occasionally.

To each their own but I still wouldn't trade my GFC for anything. The side panels have been a game changer in terms of ease of access to my truck bed. They even allow me to grab my giant bouldering crash pads through the side, access all my solar/battery/charger setup, and grab a quick beer from the fridge. It's lasted through the biggest storms I've ever experienced (hail, 60 mph winds, flood level rain, etc) without any issues.

I'm just crossing my fingers that my experience doesn't fade.